Data compression techniques are commonly used to achieve a reduced bit rate in the digital representation of signals for efficient processing, transmission, and storage. Typically, an original file is regenerated from a compressed version of the original file even if only a small portion of the original file is needed.
Thus, a downside of many compression algorithms and tools is that the original file is often reconstructed when the user needs access to portions of the uncompressed data. Frequently, however, the user only needs to analyze, visualize or process a small portion of the data, rendering the reconstruction of the complete original file an unnecessary time and space consuming task.
A need therefore exists for decompression techniques for compressed data, such as seismic data, that enables random access to data samples without the need to regenerate the entire file.